FORMER First Lady Imelda R. Marcos was granted a 15-day travel permit by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division on Thursday that will allow her to seek treatment from alternative medicine practitioners in China and Hong Kong.

Marcos has been complaining about her eye and knee ailments.

She will also attend a trade fair in China to which she had been invited by organizers.

The anti-graft court chaired by Associate Justice Ma. Cristina Cortez Estrada took only 20 minutes to deliberate on the Marcos motion before rendering a favorable ruling.

The court directed Marcos to re-post a P630,000 bail bond which she had withdrawn in March 2006 after canceling a trip that had already been allowed by the court.

Marcos will leave for China tomorrow afternoon and will have to be back not later than Sept. 14.

The itinerary she submitted to the court lists Marcos’ stops as the People’s Hospital of Jilin Province on Sept. 1 for her knee treatment, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong on Sept. 5 for her eye, and in-between the 3rd Jilin Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo.

Marcos is facing 10 graft charges before the Fifth Division over allegations that she and her late husband stashed millions of dollars in secret Swiss bank accounts.

Earlier in the day, Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. of the Manila regional trial court of Manila where she is facing 32 graft charges also gave her permission to undertake the trip.